Spanish Film Archive

History

The Spanish Film Library was created by Ministerial Order on 13 February 1953. Since 1956 it has been a member of the International Film Archives Federation.

When the Spanish Film Library was created, most of the films from the silent movies period had been lost forever. Sadly, this was also true in most countries. The work of the film library was to prove essential for the retrieval and conservation of enough elements to at least be aware of and understand the history of the aforementioned period. The creation of the Spanish Film Library was to coincide, in this country, with the shift from cellulose-nitrate film - the first plastic material used to print films - to cellulose triacetate, a much more stable and safer support.

Since 1964, it has been mandatory in Spain to supply the Spanish Film Library with a copy of any film that has received «any help from official Bodies, in the form of credits, direct protection, or any other form included in the provisions regulating the protection of national cinema» (Decree 495, of 20 February 1964).

Thanks to the retrieval and restoration activities carried out by the Spanish Film Library, it is possible today to watch films predating the implementation of the safer supports. Even today, films that were considered lost forever are being retrieved.

Palacio de Perales

Declared a monument of national interest in 1995, the Palacio de Perales was built at the beginning of the 18th century by architect Pedro de Ribera, considered the last representative of «authentic Madrid Baroque», and responsible for many important civil and religious buildings in the Spanish capital. Part of the National Heritage since the early 1920s, the Palacio de Perales was attached in 1977 to the then Ministry of Information and Tourism, and became home to the National Periodicals Library. In 1997 the building was passed to the Film and Audio-visual Arts Institute and became the new headquarters of the Spanish Film Library.